Sometimes I forget to soak the beans. (More truthfully, most times I forget to soak the beans.) It is then that I reach for a can of cannellini, flageolet, haricot or borlotti: the ready-cooked ones. They work well enough, though I wouldn't use them in a salad. Their texture is often a little softer than I'd like, but for some dishes that is a plus – such as when you want to beat them to a fluffy mash with olive oil or butter.

If I had to pick a favourite member of the bean family it would probably be the Judion, or Judion de la granja – the butter bean. It is, I suppose, the largest of the family, but it is the flat shape and slippery quality that makes this, the mother of all pulses, the one I would choose above all others.

If you cook dried butter beans from scratch you need to do so with care, as they are prone to fall apart. I get round this by bringing the beans slowly up to the boil, skimming off any froth, then simmering at only a moderate pace. If you salt them only towards the end of cooking, they won't toughen the way beans cooked in salted water can. But most times I buy the parchment-coloured bean in jars, ready cooked. It is an expensive way buy them, though the price of gas to cook them from dried shouldn't be overlooked. The real pleasure in these beans is their creamy quality. Eating them creamed with butter or olive oil makes them second only to mashed potato as an accompaniment to flash-fried liver or ham.

Earlier this week I used these beans as a stuffing for squid baked in a light sherry and rosemary juice. There was a temptation to mash them but I decided instead to keep them whole so we could enjoy their silky, buttery texture. Cooked briefly with tomato, garlic and rosemary, the beans were quite at home and would have made a perfectly fine accompaniment for a plate of grilled squid, but there is something about seeing a whole squid that just begs to be stuffed. Previously I have done this with parsley, lemon, breadcrumbs and anchovies, but the idea of fat white beans and a cephalopod was too good to pass up.

Lentils don't need to be soaked, so they tend to be used in my kitchen more than any other of the pulses. Scattering them into a pan recently, I wondered whether they could be substituted for mince in a ragu bolognaise. The answer turned out to be an emphatic yes, though I missed out the usual tomato purée and felt that garlic was unnecessary on this occasion. By the time I had softened the edges with crème fraîche and added a slug of mellowing balsamic vinegar, I had a pasta sauce worth the trouble. It is barely eligible to be called a ragu but is none the worse for that.

Squid with Judion beans and rosemary

I use the bottled Judion beans available from Spanish grocers and some delicatessen for this, but canned butter beans are easier to find, and work perfectly, too. Serves 4garlic cloves 4 a little olive oilplum tomatoes 8rosemary 5 large sprigsJudion or butter beans 650gsquid 4 medium-sized, cleanedfino sherry 300mlPeel the cloves of garlic, slice them finely, then fry till very lightly coloured in the oil in a high-sided frying pan. Cut each tomato into roughly 8 small pieces then add to the garlic, together with the chopped leaves from one of the rosemary sprigs. Continue cooking for 6 or 7 minutes till the mixture is soft, fragrant and quite juicy. Season with salt and black pepper.

Drain the beans of any bottling or canning liquor, rinsing them in a colander if you wish, then stir them gently into the tomato mixture and continue cooking, over a moderate heat, for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat. Set the oven at 200C/gas mark 6.

Check the squid bodies, making sure that the transparent quills have been removed and discarded and that they are thoroughly clean. Using a tablespoon, stuff the empty squid with as much of the filling as you can, laying them down, slightly apart, in a roasting tin or large baking dish. Spoon any excess filling into the roasting tin.

Pour the sherry around the squid, add the remaining rosemary sprigs whole to the tin (reserving the squid tentacles to add later), and bake for 20-25 minutes, occasionally basting with the sherry. Halfway through cooking, tuck the reserved tentacles around the squid bodies.

Serve the squid and tentacles, one per person, in shallow bowls or on deep plates, spooning the thin juices around them as you go.

Lentil bolognaise

Serves 4carrots 2onion 1 medium-sizedolive oil 3 tbspsmall green lentils such as Le Puy 250g vegetable stock 1 litrecrème fraîche 2 tbspbalsamic vinegar 1 tbspTo serve:pappardelle or orecchietteCut the carrots into small dice, peeling them if you wish, then leave them to cook over a moderate heat with the olive oil in a deep pan. Peel, finely slice and add the onion, and cook for a good 15 minutes till the onion is deep gold and the carrots lightly browned.

Tip the lentils, rinsed if necessary, into the pan, then pour in the stock and bring to the boil. Lower the heat so the liquid simmers, and leave to cook until the lentils are soft rather than tender – anything from 25-40 minutes. Season with salt towards the end of cooking.

Put a large pan of water on for the pasta and salt it generously. Cook the pasta till al dente.

While the pasta cooks, remove half the lentils and their liquid and blitz to a rough purée in a blender or food processor, then return to the pan and stir. Mix in the crème fraîche and balsamic vinegar and check the seasoning. Bring almost to the boil.

Drain the pasta, divide between warm bowls, then spoon over some of the lentil ragu and serve.